books.google.fr - In 480 B.C., Xerxes, the King of Persia, led an invasion of mainland Greece. Its success should have been a formality. For seventy years, victory--rapid, spectacular victory--had seemed the birthright of the Persian Empire. In the space of a single generation, they had swept across the Near East, shattering...https://books.google.fr/books/about/Persian_Fire.html?hl=fr&id=WJPtAAAAMAAJ&utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePersian Fire

Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

In 480 B.C., Xerxes, the King of Persia, led an invasion of mainland Greece. Its success should have been a formality. For seventy years, victory--rapid, spectacular victory--had seemed the birthright of the Persian Empire. In the space of a single generation, they had swept across the Near East, shattering ancient kingdoms, storming famous cities, putting together an empire which stretched from India to the shores of the Aegean. As a result of those conquests, Xerxes ruled as the most powerful man on the planet. Yet somehow, astonishingly, against the largest expeditionary force ever assembled, the Greeks of the mainland managed to hold out. The Persians were turned back. Greece remained free. Had the Greeks been defeated in the epochal naval battle at Salamis, not only would the West have lost its first struggle for independence and survival, but it is unlikely that there would ever have been such an entity as the West at all. Tom Holland's brilliant new book describes the very first "clash of Empires" between East and West. As he did in the critically praised "Rubicon," he has found extraordinary parallels between the ancient world and our own. There is no other popular history that takes in the entire sweep of the Persian Wars, and no other classical historian, academic or popular, who combines scholarly rigor with novelistic depth with a worldly irony in quite the fashion that Tom Holland does.

Review: Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

Mick Maye - September 23, 2012 - Goodreads

... Loved this book and the insight in this topic. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of books covering this region and age from the Persian side, which is what drew ... Consulter l'avis complet

Holland's writing style is both rich and engaging. - Goodreads

Review: Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

Marcus - September 5, 2013 - Goodreads

... point of view, 'Persian Fire' is an excellent book. Holland's writing style is both rich and engaging. What's maybe even more important, he makes all those ... Consulter l'avis complet

I would have liked the font to larger. - Goodreads

Review: Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

Alan - February 1, 2015 - Goodreads

... about the subject. I found that some sections provided a bit too much information that was not pertinent to the story. I would have liked the font to larger. ... Consulter l'avis complet

It does move at a good pace. - Goodreads

Review: Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

Pippa - August 4, 2014 - Goodreads

... to me. This is not a fault with the book and the right reader (someone interested in military history?) might be enthralled. It does move at a good pace. ... Consulter l'avis complet

Review: Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

Avis d'utilisateur - Jostein Moen - Goodreads

Tom Holland is unsurpassed among historians. His style is vivid and inviting. His book is not a balcony seat from which to watch history unfold but a place right in the turmoil. His narrating ...Consulter l'avis complet

Review: Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

Avis d'utilisateur - Neil Pearson - Goodreads

Despite the title, the majority of the book is about the Greeks (which the author suggests is largely due to the amount of information available). Luckily, my knowledge of ancient Greece was clearly ...Consulter l'avis complet

À propos de l'auteur (2005)

TOM HOLLAND gained the top degree at Cambridge before earning his Ph.D. at Oxford. He is the author of Rubicon, a critically acclaimed history of the fall of the Roman Republic, and the novels The Bone Hunter, Slave of My Thirst, and Lord of the Dead.